He was the last warrior of the old gods, she was born with the power of the new. In a war for the soul of a kingdom, two enemies will find their biggest battle is resisting the other.
🐺🦊🔥🏹
Trigger warnings - strong language, violence, sex and re...
Йой! Нажаль, це зображення не відповідає нашим правилам. Щоб продовжити публікацію, будь ласка, видаліть його або завантажте інше.
Helia woke on the third day in the dungeon to find her cheek itching. It took her a moment to recognise where she was, for the dull ache in her muscles to return, for the oppressive heat to make her temples throb once more.
Her eyes shot open, and she shifted her head sharply. She was leaning against Tomaz's shoulder, her cheek pressed into the creases of his tunic. She sat up swiftly, staring at him in surprise.
"What are you doing here?"
He smiled sadly.
"I promised your mother I would always be by your side. Though I wish I could keep my promise in a more comfortable setting... maybe one with a bed."
A smile touched her lips. The opaque darkness, the maddening drip-drip of water trickling down the walls, and the smell of mould and piss and decay, all dissolved as Tomaz's presence, the comfort and safety of her childhood, returned to her.
"This is not a good place for you, but I'm glad you're here. I think the promise you and my mother made was the greatest gift ever bestowed upon me."
He chuckled, his ruddy cheeks turning darker, and he turned to peer into the cell opposite, his eyes lingering on Erric's curled form in the corner.
"She gave you better gifts than that. Your power may come from your father's side, but the knowledge of how to use such power that comes entirely from your mother. If she had been born a man or lived in a different kingdom altogether, she would have been the greatest ruler, as would you."
The words of the wolf ran back through her mind. As did all the moments they'd spent together. Memories of his touch, his hot breath against her skin, the feel of him inside her, all brought unwelcome fire to her belly. But the hurt that dimmed his eyes later dowsed any heat with icy shame. He knew he'd been fooled. How she had used his desire to aid her brother's escape. That with Erric safe, the wolf and the Nordling king would lose their leverage over her father. But she'd been a fool. The person whose feelings she hadn't expected had been her own. She thought there was nothing more to their games than a little desire, a curiosity that would fade into dust once spent. But she'd been wrong. So wrong.
"The wolf thinks I'm a coward, that I stay confined out of choice. Do you agree with him?"
He sighed, looking ahead but thinking back.
"I spoke such things to your mother once in a while and she was always keen to remind me I couldn't fathom the ways you and she would have been crushed little by little, each day, by brothers, and fathers, and all the men who were supposed to love and value you. She was right. There are things Vigar understands, and things he could never possibly know."
"He told you his name?"
"No." He chuckled. "But you uttered it so many times in your sleep it would take an idiot not to guess."
She snorted and looked down at herself. Her dress was the same one she'd worn when she'd fallen into the river. Dried, but now it was stiff and smelt terrible.
